College Lists

Colleges With High Acceptance Rates

69 of the 162 colleges we track admit at least half of their applicants. The highest are University of Mississippi, University of Kansas, and University of Kentucky. Rates are from the federal College Scorecard, with each school's SAT range alongside.

School	Acceptance rate	SAT middle 50%
University of Mississippi	96.6%	1000–1200
University of Kansas	93.5%	1070–1300
University of Kentucky	92.9%	1070–1290
Virginia Commonwealth University	92.6%	1010–1270
University of California-Merced	90.5%
Arizona State University	89.9%
West Virginia University	89%	1010–1220
Iowa State University	88.7%	1120–1360
Colorado State University	88.5%
University of Oregon	88.3%	1130–1360
University of New Hampshire	88.2%	1090–1330
George Mason University	87.5%	1160–1360
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	87.5%	1098–1330
Washington State University	86.6%
University of Arizona	86.1%	1150–1420
University of Utah	86%	1190–1380
University of Cincinnati	85.3%	1160–1370
Michigan State University	84.8%	1180–1360
San Jose State University	84.6%
University of Iowa	83.6%	1130–1330
St. John's University-New York	83.4%	1150–1340
Gonzaga University	81.7%	1190–1380
Loyola University Chicago	81.6%	1170–1360
Marquette University	81.3%	1200–1360
Temple University	80.4%
University of Minnesota	79.8%	1300–1500
Drexel University	79.4%	1240–1440
University of Missouri	78.5%	1150–1330
Indiana University	78.2%	1170–1400
University of Colorado Boulder	78.1%	1240–1430
University of Denver	77.8%	1240–1410
Mississippi State University	77.6%	1100–1350
Oregon State University	77.3%	1140–1400
University of Illinois Chicago	77.3%	1130–1350
University of Oklahoma	76.6%	1140–1330
The University of Alabama	76.6%	1170–1400
University of California-Riverside	76.4%
DePaul University	75.9%	1140–1330
Miami University-Oxford	75.4%	1220–1390
University of Arkansas	74.3%	1030–1220
University at Buffalo	74.2%	1210–1380
University of Houston	73.9%	1160–1340
Seton Hall University	73.3%	1220–1390
Louisiana State University	73.3%	1180–1340
Texas Tech University	72.7%	1090–1280
University of Rhode Island	72.2%	1020–1280
University of North Texas	72.2%	980–1230
James Madison University	71.5%	1170–1340
University of Delaware	70.6%	1190–1370
University at Albany	69.1%
Hofstra University	68.1%	1230–1400
Florida Atlantic University	66.1%	1040–1200
University of California-Santa Cruz	65.8%
University of Vermont	65.3%	1290–1440
The University of Texas at Dallas	65.1%	1160–1410
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	63.5%	1375–1510
Southern Methodist University	63.3%	1340–1490
Pennsylvania State University	60.6%	1240–1420
Ohio State University	60.6%	1310–1480
University of South Carolina	60.2%	1180–1360
University of Massachusetts-Amherst	59.7%	1310–1500
Fordham University	59.3%	1320–1480
University of Pittsburgh	58.1%	1280–1460
Rutgers University-New Brunswick	58.1%	1310–1500
Texas A&M University	57.4%	1150–1400
Virginia Tech	54.8%	1280–1450
Florida International University	54.7%	1070–1260
University of Connecticut	52.4%	1210–1440
Baylor University	51.3%	1200–1400

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Frequently asked questions

Which well-known colleges have the highest acceptance rates?

Among the 162 colleges we track, the highest published acceptance rates belong to University of Mississippi (96.6%), University of Kansas (93.5%), University of Kentucky (92.9%), Virginia Commonwealth University (92.6%), University of California-Merced (90.5%).

Does a high acceptance rate make a college a safety school?

Not by itself. A safety is a school where your grades and scores sit above the typical admitted student and you would be happy to enroll. A college that admits 70% of applicants is not a safety for a student below its score range, and popular majors at large public universities can be far more selective than the school overall.

Acceptance rates and SAT ranges: College Scorecard API — U.S. Department of Education (api.data.gov) and Editorial overrides layer (overrides.json) — Common Data Set & institutional sources. Test policies and deadlines: each school's admissions site, verified for the 2026-27 cycle.